Student debt could be canceled as early as October 23, and GOP states are scrambling to stop it

• A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by GOP-led states seeking to block student-debt relief.
• But the states filed an appeal, requesting the relief be paused by October 22 at 9:00 AM.

A group of Republicans are doing everything they can to make sure President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness doesn't roll out.

On Thursday night, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by six Republican-led states who wanted to block student-debt relief, arguing it would hurt their states' tax revenues, among other things. While the judge wrote in his opinion that the states failed to show any concrete injury the loan forgiveness would bring, they went ahead and filed an appeal to the conservative 8th Circuit.

Per the GOP states' legal filing, they asked the court to "temporarily stay" the Biden administration from canceling any student debt by 9:00 AM central time on October 22 until a final decision is made on the legality of the debt relief, which is just one day before the earliest the Education Department indicated it could begin discharging student loans for borrowers. They argued that "no borrower will be disadvantaged by interim relief because loan repayments and interest accruals are paused, and the Department can continue that for forbearance while this appeal is pending," referring to the student-loan payment pause currently expiring on December 31.

On Monday, Biden officially launched the student-loan forgiveness application, and over 8 million borrowers have already applied to receive up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. While the Education Department is moving forward with the implementation process, conservative groups are continuing to file legal challenges seeking to block the plan from rolling out. The Cato Institute, a Koch-backed libertarian think-tank, most recently filed a lawsuit that argued debt relief would undermine recruiting through a loan forgiveness program for public servants.

A judge is also expected to hold a hearing next week for a lawsuit filed by the Job Creators Network, as well. But so far, rulings have been in favor of borrowers, with even conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett dismissing a request to halt relief. For now, borrowers can continue applying for loan forgiveness through a form on studentaid.gov and should keep an eye out for additional details on next steps from the Education Department.